Friday, 28 May 2010

"The teaching of certain thoughts and ideas has often been regarded as a crime. And, since Roman times, certain kinds of what we might like to call Free Speech have been regarded as crime."

"But not only is speaking often prohibited, sometimes so is taking notes, or remembering what is spoken."

"At the WTO meetings in Washington for instance, police orders heard over the police radio requested the seizing or destruction of reporters' written notes, and many instances of attempted willful destruction of photographic and video evidence have been perpetrated by both the police, the military, and by others."

1- enter the regime;
2- ask them why they have surveillance cameras there;
3- accept a typical response such as "Why are you so paranoid? Only criminals and terrorists are afraid of cameras.";
4- photograph the respondent;
5- observe reaction.

Take your kids to the park, and leave them there
A New York writer has caused a storm by encouraging parents to leave their kids in parks tomorrow.

Lenore Skenazy, who was branded ‘America’s Worst Mom’ after she wrote in the New York Post about letting her nine-year-old son ride the NY subway alone, has declared this Saturday to be the first-ever ‘Take Our Children To The Park And Leave Them There’ day. She has been caught up in a maelstrom of media attention since she announced the ‘holiday’ on her Free Range Kids website last week. Here, she explains why she’s doing it.

Scientists said they had found vast underwater plumes of oil, one 10 miles (16km) long and a mile wide. Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology said they had detected the slicks lurking just beneath the surface of the sea and at depths of 4,000ft (1,200m). Chemical dispersants BP has been dumping underwater may be preventing the oil from rising to the top of the ocean, the scientists said. The find suggests the scale of the potential environmental disaster is much worse than previously feared since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up on 20 April, killing 11 workers.

"In a time of climate change, will you stop sponsorship by oil companies so we can visit Tate and enjoy great art without being complicit in climate chaos?"

Nicholas Serota replies... "The first thing to say is we have support from BP, which as a company is looking at renewable energy as well as using up fossil fuels and using oil. We have long had support from them and are not intending to abandon it."

Sunday, 2 May 2010

A family have uncovered a church which has been hidden under their Victorian home in Shropshire for 100 years, under a metre-long rectangle metal grid in their hallway.

The hole under the grid was just big enough for son Gareth, 20, to squeeze down and see what was under their living room. And then he followed a staircase in the chapel and came out of a cupboard in the dining room.

"Our minds set up many traps for us. Unless we’re aware of them, these traps can seriously hinder our ability to think rationally, leading us to bad reasoning and making stupid decisions. Features of our minds that are meant to help us may, eventually, get us into trouble."